Justice Winograd
Photo: Niv Calderon
Channel 2: No individual conclusions in Winograd interim report
Prime minister and defense minister gain four months until Winograd publishes final report
The Winograd interim report about the Israeli military and government's performance during the war in Lebanon,
scheduled to be released at the end of March, will not include conclusions about individuals involved but only systemic conclusions, Channel 2 reported Thursday evening.
Pre-planned War?
According to Ha’aretz report, prime minister told Winograd Commission he decided as early as March, 2006 to launch a ‘restrained’ military operation in case of kidnapping incident along Lebanese border
This gives Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz an extra four months before they have to face the criticism, during which Peretz is planning to run for leadership of the Labor Party.
The interim report will not deal with performance during the war, but the demeanor during the period until the war brok out, starting at the pullout from Lebanon in 2000.
The final report will include harsh criticism on how the war was run, and personal conclusions will be drawn about Olmert, Peretz and Northern Command chief at the time, Major-General Udi Adam. This report is scheduled to be published in July.
The performance of the Home Front Command will also be judged severely, according to the Channel 2 report.
The Home Front is also undergoing scrutiny by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss.
At a meeting of the Knesset's State Control Committee about the interim report, Lindnstrauss presented a list of interviews his office had held. The list did not include the name of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
"Unfortunately the prime minister had requested that we send him our questions in writing. Two months later we received responses to several of the questions. But until today we have not received the answers we were looking for," Lindenstrauss told the committee.
The prime minister's remarks whereby the war had been planned last March drew condemnation by Knesset members in the opposition. MK Effie Eitam from the National Religious Party said: "It appears that our prime minister and Nassrallah are coordinating their versions.
"Nasrallah said that Israel started the war, and now, in his attempt to avoid responsibility for the war, Olmert is trying to rewrite history," he added.
